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DeMarre Carroll did not get a chance to prove himself against his former teammates.

The one-time Raptor was given Friday night off by the Brooklyn Nets to rest, robbing fans and former teammates of a chance to see him in action at the Air Canada Centre for the first time since he was traded in the summer.

Carroll’s years with the Raptors were two of the most successful in franchise history, but he was mildly critical of the team’s style of play in interviews after he was dealt — along with 2018 first- and second-round draft picks — to Brooklyn for a second-round selection and Toronto’s right to waive Justin Hamilton.

The Raptors weren’t bothered by Carroll’s departing words.

“I didn’t play too much into it, honestly,” DeMar DeRozan said. “His role here was . . . defender, cutter and shooter. We tried to fit in with everybody on the team, those couple of years, and tried to heighten everybody’s skill. It was tough.

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“We dealt with a lot of injuries through that time, always trying to figure out what, how, when. And through it all we were still extremely successful — winning 50-plus games, making it to the Eastern Conference finals, going to the second round — so as much as people play on them comments, we had some great years when he was there.”

In his two seasons in Toronto, Carroll played just 98 of a possible 164 regular-season games because of a variety of injuries including one knee operation. He averaged 9.4 points, 4.1 rebounds and 27.2 minutes per game.

“I’m not going to get into what DeMarre thought, what he said,” Raptors coach Dwane Casey said. “I know our offence was in the top five last year. He can be critical all he wants, that’s his opinion. We’ve established a style of play. I know our style of play is the way we have to play. Whether he could fit or not, I’m not going to get into that.”

WHISTLE POST: The NBA has lost one of its most respected officials, but hopes to gain in the long run. Monty McCutchen, generally considered one of the top referees in the league by players and coaches, has stepped off the court to become the league’s vice-president in charge of referee development and training. The 51-year-old McCutchen was an official for 25 years before working his last game Thursday in Minneapolis. He replaces Bob Delaney, who retired in October after 30 years with the NBA. McCutchen officiated more than 1,400 regular-season games since joining the NBA for the 1993-94 season. He has also worked 169 playoff games, including 16 in the NBA finals.

FAST TRACK: Andre De Grasse is going to back to his sporting roots. The world-class sprinter was a basketball player in his youth, and he’ll host a holiday youth tournament in his native Markham this year. There will be 31 teams of kids from Grades 6 through high school at the event from Dec. 29 to 31 at the Markham Pan Am Centre. De Grasse was raised in Markham and played a variety of team sports including soccer, baseball and basketball before taking up track in his final year at Milliken Mills high school.

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